My father recently told me a story about a man that would bring his lunch to work every day. Each day the man would open his lunch, take out a sandwich, take a bite and complain about how bad it tasted, and how tired he was of eating the same old, boring lunch.

After months of listening to the man complain one of his co-workers finally had enough. He approached him and asked, “If you are so sick of having the same lunch every day, why don’t you ask your wife to make you something different?” Clearly offended by such a suggestion, the man snapped back, “I don’t need to change anything. I make my own damn lunch.”

I was reminded of the lunch story as a result of a recent speaking engagement I delivered for the Medical Service Society (www.medicalservicesociety.org) in San Diego. The theme of my talk centered on the idea that a sales professional’s current mindset and behaviors equate to their current sales results. This theme was applied to the current state of our economy and the affect it is having on sales professionals.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist - or economist - to see that our economy and sales environment has drastically changed in the last 12 months. Businesses of all sizes and a majority of all industries are dealing with an unprecedented level of upheaval. We all know that something needs to change. The real question isn’t whether change is needed, but what kind of change do we need to make in order to achieve sales excellence in today’s environment?

Making career lasting changes starts with acting and thinking differently in order to produce the results we desire. Complaining about your results as the man did with his lunch or worse yet, doing the same old things we have done in the past, while expecting new and improved results, is the definition of insanity. In other words, it is time we pack a different lunch!